User blog:Acardwell415/17 Things we learned from the Leigh Bardugo-Marissa Meyer "Truth or Dare" Bookcon Panel
Wikia YA Society went to Bookcon 2015 in New York this past weekend, and one of our favorite panels was the "Truth or Dare" panel with Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone series and the upcoming Six of Crows) and Marissa Meyer (Cinder series and the upcoming Heartless). 1. While Leigh’s new book Six of Crows is essentially a heist story (“''Ocean’s Eleven'' meets Game of Thrones”), she claims she’s never been involved in a heist, but did once break into an aqueduct. 2. When asked if Leigh or “Team Darkling” or “Team Mal,” ''' she strongly declared herself, “Team Nikolai!” 3. '''What should fans take away from their books? *Marissa said, “Lots of book boyfriends!” *Leigh said, “If a reader can find escape in my world, I love that.” 4. What do you they about each other’s books? *Leigh about Marissa’s books: “Her men treat women well, and fight side by side with them.” *Marissa about Leigh’s books: “I love the amazing world you’ve constructed! I walk the line between friend and creepy fangirl.” 5. Marissa’s favorite book of all of her books was Cress, because she “loved writing it and writing Thorne.” But she added, “ I have a feeling Winter will be the new fan favorite,” even though she has a love/hate relationship with it. 6. When asked if she likes writing good or evil characters more, Leigh said she prefers writing characters “who confuse the hell out of the reader - people who surprise you.” 7. Marissa was a huge anime and cosplay fangirl when she was young, but she was sad that not all her friends had characters from anime to cosplay as. She said she wrote her characters as diversely as possible with the idea that, if the Cinder series became popular, her fans would all have someone they could cosplay as. 8. Which of her characters would Leigh most want to meet? “I did so many terrible things to them that, if I showed up at their door, they’d probably punch me in the face!” 9. Do they read reviews of their books? *Leigh: “Reading reviews is a really bad addiction, so I substitute reading things like Goodreads with Pinterest.” *Marissa: No, she doesn’t, because “all you end up hearing is what was wrong with them." 10. When asked about shaming adult readers who choose to read YA books, Leigh pointed out that it’s no coincidence that the two genres people are “shamed” for reading are YA and romance, which are both largely created and consumed by women. "If we didn't teach boys that the things women like are shameful, than we wouldn't have to worry about this." 11. If you could Lunar “glamour” folks to see you as any celebrity, who would you choose? *Marissa: Pre-plastic surgery Meg Ryan *Leigh: “Cate Blanchett, Emma Stone, even Ryan Gosling!” She’d even try to look like John Green so she could “make trouble.” 12. Who’s the most annoying character in your books? Leigh said, “Zoya. I love her and named my car after her. But she can be a real pain in the butt.” 13. Do you love any of your male characters? Marissa said all of them. “I can’t write a romantic subplot without falling in love with the male character.” 14. Do they read their fan fiction? *Leigh said, no way, because she doesn’t want it to color her view of her stories. *Marissa agreed, but she did admit, "I go on http://fanfiction.net just to see how many stories there are!" 15. Does Leigh ever plan on writing a book about Nikolai? ''' “Yes!” 16. '''If she could add another antagonist to her roster of fairy-tale characters in the Cinder series, Marissa said she’d have to choose Rumpelstiltskin. 17. Highlights of the “dares” from the panel included: *Marissa and Leigh waltzing like they were at a Lunar Ball *Leigh rapping in the persona of The Darkling *Marissa and Leigh re-enacting a scene from Cinder *Marissa making up and singing the Lunar Anthem to the tune of “O Christmas Tree." Category:Blog posts Category:BookCon 2015